Thursday, June 14, 2007

That's what I call it. To Joe and his family, they call it camping. And that's what we'll be doing this weekend. But they can't fool me. There's no public sinks/showers, or outhouses with the crescent moon on the door. You wanna wash up? Jump in the creek. Need to go to the bathroom? Here's the shovel. Of course, I do have to say that when the girls are along for the trip, they do pull out all the stops, and set up a shower in the trees, and set up a little port a potty for us...but still. They have a serious aversion to campgrounds and all the people in them, and really never go to them.. So they head out to their little Shangri-La up by the base of Mt. Shasta called McCloud. You know you're there when you see a little bar, post office and gas station all rolled into one building. Turn immediately left off the highway, drive around the forest for a ways, then stop. Set up camp, you have arrived. This'll be my second time going. It's all a little shocking to me - I was not brought up to be a camper. My family has a cabin, so that's where we would always head because there was always work to do on it, and my mom loathes camping. She says that its no vacation at all for the woman, and I do see her point. Its a lot of packing/preparing, and then a ton of clean up/ laundry. But, Joe adores it, so I better get used to it, right? Besides, I get totally soft when he talks about doing stuff with our future kids there, and teaching them stuff, and keeping the tradition of going there with his bros up. So really, it's a lost cause.Of course, McCloud does have its charms...it is very tranquil, and beautiful. At night you hear the creek rushing by, and the stars are awesome to see. And, its just fun to be together. So even though I was a punk when writing the first paragraph, I'm not really dreading the trip. But I am dreading the heat. I saw today that one of the towns up there was at 103 degrees - yuck. And it won't be a restful weekend by any means; I overheard Joe and his brother Jake go over the pros and cons of a day hike, and there's rumored to be a night hike in the works. The boys and Lisa left today to go set up camp and stuff (and they're the real hardcore campers anyway), and I am heading up tomorrow night with Joe's parents after work. Hooray for a 6 hour drive plus weekend Bay Area traffic when we'll be trying to get out of town! Smile!! Then we come home on Sunday, and jump right back into the grind. So, here I am, blogging, when really I should be packing my bag.It's a little weird without Joe here. It's not like I can't sleep if he's not here, but it is a little strange, all the same. When I got dinner tonight, I just chose something that sounded good to me. Didn't think about quantity or making a complete meal. Trying to combat the blazing heat, I treated myself to cold shrimp with lots of cocktail sauce, corn on the cob, and some lemon gelato for dessert. Yummy! I also had total domination of the TV and computer (a rarity), the alarm won't go off at 4:30am, I don't have to iron him a shirt or pack his lunch...so that's all swell. And I'll definitely enjoy it. But I'll be glad when he's back. I miss him.